Looking after your Pixie Bob
Testimonial"Thank you for all your advice on looking after our little treasures. The difference is amazing! Their coats are lush and shiny, the dredlocks have gone, we don't seem to have a need for flea treatment anymore and there is a complete lack of furballs!" Claire and Jen, September 2006 This is what we use:Raw rabbit, minced or pieced, delivered frozen by post to your door. Email David Blythe at Eagle Pack Holistic cat food. Order from Roger at Fibre based, clumping, flushable cat litter. Order Worlds Best Cat Litter from Pixie Bobs are like any other domestic breed of cats. Therefore, the advice provided below can be applied to any other of your feline housemates. DietA good diet is the key to a long and healthy life for any indoor or outdoor cat. Your cat's coat is the easiest indicator to her health. It should be soft and shiny, not too oily, not to dry. Her stools should be firm, but not too hard. With the right diet, your cat won't get fleas and will be able to shed worms without the need for drugs or worming poisons. We feed our Pixie Bobs on a diet of raw rabbit on the bone and a high quality dry kibble. Raw meat AND bone really make a huge difference. Knawing on the bone will keep her teeth clean, and the raw bone marrow is essential to good health. There is every indication that cats fed on such a diet avoid the now common degenerative diseases of old age: diabetes, heart disease, kidney problem. For more information on the benefits of a raw diet, please refer to the BARF (Bones And Raw Food) diet website. It is important to also provide a good dry kibble, not too high in carbohydrates and enriched with microbiotics and antioxidants. This will provide the variation and the additional vitamins and minerals which she might not otherwise get from a diet of the same type of raw meat (eg rabbit only, or beef heart only). So, here is the diet we feed at Anson Road:
Changing a cat's diet will almost always be followed by a period diarrhoe. Don't change too many things at once. Introduce new kibble, or raw food gradually over a period of a month. Persist and you will be rewarded! WormingIntestinal worms can cause a cat to have dull fur, bloated tummy, chronic diarrhoe, loss of weight, just to mention a few symptoms. General opinion is that all cats are born with intestinal worms. Holistic opinion goes further and maintains that there are good and bad intestinal worms, similar to good and bad intestinal bacteria. Repeated, unecessary worming can also cause intestinal stresses for the cat. Worming kittens repeatedly at a young age can overwhelm them. It usually causes a period of diarhoe, may be the cause of ongoing bowel irritation, and at worst, has been known to kill the kitten. It is our experience that healthy cats are able to shed almost all harmful worms without the need for poisons. Therefore, here at Anson Road, we adhere to the following principles:
Fatal litter traysCertain clumping litters have been known to kill kittens as they ingest the fine powdered clumping additives. This stays in their system, soaks up liquid from their body and clumps and becomes unmovable by the bowels. The following article makes interesting reading. At Anson Road, we use natural, fibre based litters, many of which also clump and are flushable down the loo. VaccinationsVaccinations are often administered without due consideration of the risks associated with the drug, or even the level of risk (if any!) presented by the disease itself. I have no wish to paraphrase this excellent article on the risks of vaccinations. In short, at Anson Road, there are no repeated booster vaccinations, and none of the kittens who stay with use from birth are ever vaccinated at all, unless legally necessary (rabies for example for a PETS passport.) DisclaimerThe advice provided in this article is based on personal experience and is given in good faith and without liability. Please consult your own advisers and trusted vetarinarians before changing your cat's diet and care.
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